West Midlands Staff

Nathan Craig Research Agronomist & Acting Executive Officer

Mob: 0438 924 208Email: nathan.craig@wmgroup.org.au

Nathan Craig hails from a family farm in Western Victoria where he spent the first seven years of his career as farm manager on their mixed enterprise (sheep and crop) farm. He has a strong background in annual & perennial pasture management, livestock production as well as the development of a cropping enterprise that worked synergistically with the pasture system. Nathan has recently completed a PhD at UWA on “Plant available nitrogen in monoculture wheat under long-term no tillage”.

Shae has 15 years experience in mining in various administration roles. She has a Diploma in Human Resources and Business Management, Certificate 1v in Training and Assessment and Certificate 1V in Dental Nursing. She is a local to Dandaragan and grew up in Kojonup where Shae gained an agricultural background working in a laboratory and farm setting with a veterinarian.

Gina Micke

Gina qualified with honours as a veterinarian from Murdoch University in 1998 and has since worked in NSW, QLD, WA and the UK. She obtained a Masters of Veterinary Studies in sheep and beef production from UQ that included a project on the effects of cell grazing on perennial pastures. Subsequent to this she completed a PhD at UQ as part of a collaborative project with UniSA, University of Adelaide, UNE and UWA in the nutritional fetal programming of beef cattle. This work was largely funded by MLA and AACo and focused on the effects of heifer protein intake on carcass characteristics and the insulin-like growth factor system of the progeny. The results have been published in internationally recognised peer reviewed scientific journals and presented at both local and international conferences. She has applied her animal production knowledge to corporate agribusiness roles in WA and has achieved success managing her own veterinary business.

Courtney Martino

Courtney is a recent graduate from Murdoch University with a Bachelor Degree in Animal Science and a minor in economics. She has completed an honours project researching the role of restricted supplement feeding of pasture fed cattle during periods of pasture decline to reduce the incidence of dark cutting. Courtney is now a Dandaragan local and is looking forward to learning more about farming practices in the West Midalnds Region.

Carolina Brander

Carolina has extensive experience in marketing and corporate communications. She has a Master of Science in Sustainability Management and a Bachelor of Journalism. Carolina is looking forward to sharing her expertise in business, marketing and community engagement through the Northern Valleys Agribusiness project.

Nadine Marshall
Finance Officer

Tel: (08) 9651 4008Fax: (08) 9651 4107Email: finance@wmgroup.org.au

I have been in Accounts and Admin for 15 years, bookkeeping for 7 years, the last two of which I have been lucky enough to be able to have my own business as a BAS Agent. Having lived in Lower Chittering for over 10 years the ability to be able to work locally within my community the last few years has been hugely rewarding. I have a Certificate IV in Bookkeeping, I’m a member of the Australian Bookkeepers Association and I’m also a Registered BAS Agent.

Tracey Cook
Communications Consultant

Email: tracey_cook@bigpond.com

Tracey is a freelance journalist and works to promote and market her family farming business, Dandaragan Organic Beef. Tracey is also a very active, community minded Dandaragan resident. Tracey also has a Bachelor of Communications/Journalism.

Dr Bill Bowden Soils R&D Ambassador

Dr Bill Bowden has 40 year’s of experience with plant and soil research, development and extension with DAFWA. He has a BSc(Agric) (UWA 1965) and a PhD soil chemistry. Bill has been awarded the Reserve Bank fellowship on fertiliser dissolution, placement and effectiveness, Donald medallist and GRDC Seed of Light award. Bill has spent his career developing soil fertility and fertiliser recommendation systems for crops and pastures in WA. He has also been involved with yield potential, subsoil constraints, precision agriculture and diagnostic systems work.

Bryon MickeLivestock R&D Ambassador

Dr Bryon Micke has 40 year’s of experience as a veterinarian in the Western Midlands with a special interest in on-farm animal production. He is also the owner of a property in the region and has a self-replacing merino ewe flock.